Love Helps
by SlayerChic503
Summary: PRIS Andros finds Ashley held captive on the Dark Fortress beaten and powerless. Ashley and Andros are both damaged, and can’t seem to realize they need each other to truly heal. Can love really heal all wounds? Ch. 3 Now up!
1. Prologue

**Title**: Love Helps

**Rating**: T-M depending on how explicit the sex scenes get, and judging by my own experience, probably more towards the T, but I'll rate M just to be safe. Also torture and nudity in this chapter to warrant the rating.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the Power Rangers, and if I did, and if I did Andros and Ashley would totally have had a make-out session!!

**Summary**: Andros finds Ashley held captive on the Dark Fortress beaten and powerless. The Astro Rangers are reconstituted, but things aren't completely normal, well as normal as an Astro Ranger's life can be. Ashley and Andros are both damaged, and can't seem to realize they need each other to truly heal. Can love really heal all wounds?

**Author's Note**: Hello all! So this is my very first Power Rangers fic, I'm typically a Buffy writer, so don't yell at me if my language is still a little Joss-y. I just recently got back into PRIS, and since then some scenes has been rolling around in my head, and I want to put them down in a story before school starts back up. Feedback is loved and greatly appreciated!!

Prologue

The Red Ranger ducked into the first open room he found. He had successfully snuck onto the Dark Fortress, and so far had avoided detection, but the surprise of a squadron of quantrons marching his way had almost spoiled the whole operation. Andros wanted information. He had been searching single-mindedly for his sister Karone since KO-35 fell. Andros knew he was close, and had recently remembered that Darkonda had kidnapped his sister all those years ago. That returned memory led him to one conclusion that the best source of information lay in the Dark Fortress, the home of all of evil's information.

Andros breathed a sigh of relief when the quantrons passed without pause, but he immediately tensed when he heard a noise in the room. He spun, ready to fight whoever was in the room. Andros froze where he stood, momentarily stunned by the sight in front of him. A person was strung from the ceiling in chains. They were bruised from head to toe, with shallow cuts all over her naked body. Andros looked away briefly before the clanking of moving manacles forced him to look back. The girl shifted gently, trying to relieve some of the pressure on her shoulders while her toes skimmed the floor in an effort to support herself, but no matter what she did, it seemed impossible that she would get any comfort from any position.

Andros snapped out of it, shook his head and made a split second decision to save this girl, even though it could complicate his exit significantly. He drew his blaster from its holster and aimed, he would only get one shot, because if he missed the alarm would surely be sounded and they'd both be in big trouble. He shot, and hit the chain dead on, and the girl dropped like a sack of potatoes. The Red Ranger ran over and knelt down next to the girl to check whether she was conscious, but the instant he got close to her, the girl scrambled to the nearest corner. Andros ran after her, "Shh… don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm gonna get you out of here."

The girl looked out through her hair and locked eyes with Andros through his helmet. Andros quickly shook off the electric current that ran through his body when she looked at him. Andros stood up and quickly scanned the room; he strode over to one of the walls, ripped the curtain down and brought it back to the girl and wrapped it around her and gingerly picked her up. He noticed how light she was, and how she shook in his arms.

The Red Ranger walked quickly to the door and peered into the hallway to check whether it was clear. Walking quickly and quietly through the maze of hallways in the Dark Fortress. Andros made it to the hangar bay before the alarm sounded; it appeared his good deed had been discovered. Maneuvering as quickly as he could, Andros reached the opening of the hangar and called for his glider, "Galaxy glider hang ten!"

Andros and the girl made it back to the Megaship without being followed. Once onboard Andros got the girl to the med bay right away, and laid her on one of the examining beds, leaving the curtain over her to keep her warm. Andros powered down and got busy getting the materials he would need to patch this girl up.

His back was turned when he heard a raspy voice say, "Who are you?"

Andros whirled around and saw her staring at him, Andros couldn't quite hold her gaze, so he turned and continued what he was doing, "You shouldn't speak." He turned and crossed the room, avoiding her eyes at all costs.

Andros slowly moved the curtain aside to begin cleaning and dressing her wounds. She closed her eyes against the sting of the disinfectant. Feeling the need to distract her from the pain, Andros said, "My name is Andros, you're on my Megaship. I found you on the Dark Fortress and brought you here."

Andros fell silent, but once he had finished cleaning the wounds on the front of her body he said, "I'm going to need to clean the wounds on your back. Can you sit up so I can clean and dress the wounds on your back?"

The girl nodded, and Andros slid his arm gently behind her shoulders and helped her sit up. She rested her head on her knees, which she brought to her chest, and circled her hands around her legs. The gashes on her back were worse than those on her front, and being as gentle as he could, Andros cleaned the wounds as quickly as possible, but noticed tears leak out of the corners of hers eyes as she stared blankly in front of her.

Ashley snapped herself out of the nightmare of recent events replaying in her mind and croaked out, "I'm Ashley."

Andros nodded slightly and continued dressing and treating Ashley's wounds. He finished quickly, "You can lay back now. I'm going to go find something for you to wear." Andros went to the sythetron, pushed some buttons and handed Ashley a small cup, "Here, drink this. It will help with the pain, and help you sleep."

Ashley nodded, accepted the cup, and swallowed the foul tasting concoction. Andros was leaving the Med bay when he heard Ashley whisper, "Thank you." Andros turned just to see Ashley's eyes flutter closed. Andros couldn't believe how differently his night had gone. He had gone to the Dark Fortress for information and come back with a girl; essentially he'd come back with nothing. Andros was frustrated. He was so close to getting information on his sister's whereabouts, but his damn conscience distracted him and compelled him to save the girl, Ashley. Setting his resolve, he decided to dump her on the closest human colony and get back to his mission. He grabbed a spare color sweat suit for Ashley and stopped on the bridge.

"Deca, what's the closest human colony?" Andros was looking at star charts trying to figure out where he could leave the girl.

"The nearest human colony is Earth, which I believe the girl comes from." The machine answered immediately.

"Set a course and get us there as fast as possible, I have better things to do than baby-sit a terran." Andros was focused on the controls when a ship suddenly appeared on the viewing screen.

"There is an incoming shuttle. Docking procedures begun." Deca stated calmly.

Andros rounded on the red eye mounted on the wall, "What! Do not dock the shuttle! Deca, did you hear me?! Deca!" Andros fumed and yelled, "Let's Rocket!"

So what did you think? Reviews are greatly appreciated! I'm hoping to post another chapter in the next couple of days. Thanks for reading!!


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: Don't own 'em, sadly, cause if I did, face smashing would have been a must!

Chapter 1

The three former Turbo Rangers emerged from the shuttle onto a strange ship. They slowly looked around trying to figure where they were and how they were going to get out of there, "We should stick together. Let's try and find the control room of this thing so we can get out of here. We've still got a mission." TJ took the lead and made sure his team stayed focused.

Cassie was close behind TJ, "I think the control room is probably on an upper deck towards the middle of the ship." TJ nodded and led the team towards the middle of the ship hoping to find some sort of ladder or lift.

They crept along the corridor when suddenly Carlos said, "Hey that looks like a lift type thing over there." TJ, Cassie, and Carlos ran over to it just as it opened and a man in a red suit stepped out.

Andros stopped and dropped into a defensive stance as soon as he saw the three strangers standing on his spaceship. Before any of them could recover from the shock of his appearance, Andros attacked the dark skinned one wearing red in the front. Andros was mildly surprised when the red one was able to defend himself against Andros' attacks. The girl in pink and man in green tried to jump in and tried to stop Andros, but he easily threw them across the corridor and put the red one to the floor and ran down the corridor.

TJ shook his head and quickly picked himself up off the floor, "You guys alright?" Cassie and Carlos nodded and got to their feet as well.

"C'mon" Cassie said, "I think our best chance of getting any answers just ran that way." Cassie took off after Andros with the boys close behind.

The Turbo rangers were only able to just barely catch glimpses of the figure in red, but they continued to run after him. They skidded to a halt as the doors of the lift closed on the figure. TJ found a ladder on the far side of the lift doors and said, "C'mon lets go!" 

TJ started to climb when Carlos stopped him, "Wait! Let's see which floor it stops at… okay level 5, up 2 levels."

Andros entered the bridge and set about trying to contain these people in one spot so he could deal with them on his own time frame. Unfortunately the strangers didn't agree with Andros' thinking because they burst onto the bridge only a second later, this time prepared if he launched an attack. Andros faced them; tense and waiting for an opening to take them down and detain them.

TJ decided to speak before the person attacked again, "Look, we don't know how we got on your ship, but we're not here to attack you or take your ship." When the person didn't answer TJ continued, "We're rangers from earth. We took off into space when Divatox destroyed our headquarters, took Zordon, and our yellow ranger. We were looking for them when your ship docked ours. We're only looking for a refuel if you can spare it."

Andros looks at the earth rangers and decided the fastest way to get rid of them was to cooperate, "Power down… My name is Andros. I'm an astro ranger. I'll give you the fuel you need, and then you can go. Deca refuel the shuttle immediately… It should be a few minutes, you can return to your shuttle and leave."

Andros took the rangers to their shuttle, and once the door closed he rounded and glared at Deca, "Is it refueled?" the eye blinked once, "Good. I'll deal with you docking the shuttle without my authorization later." Deca remained silent.

Andros returned to the bridge, retrieved the clothes for the girl Ashley, and returned to the med bay. When he opened the doors, Ashley was still asleep, so he left the clothes within eye line and left. As soon as he stepped into the corridor Deca said, "Andros, your presence is needed on the bridge."

"I'm on my way." Andros couldn't think what it could be, but it couldn't be good, so he ran to the Megalift. When he emerged from the lift onto the bridge Andros saw the terran rangers ship get shot down by a velocifighter, and it was crash landing on the nearest planet. "Deca what do you want me to do about this?"

"As a ranger it is your duty to protect those under attack and without protection." The AI stated.

"But they said they're rangers, they can handle themselves. I've got other stuff to do." Andros was definitely not in the mood to rush to the rescue of rangers perfectly capable of defending themselves.

"You are incorrect. When Divatox destroyed their headquarters and took Zordon, it is my theory that their morphers were destroyed as well. Leaving them defenseless against a quantron attack. Therefore it **is** your duty to help them." There was distinctly accusatory tone in Deca's voice.

Andros sighed, "Well fuck me… fine. Alter course and enter atmo, we'll go in first with megalasers to thin the quantron numbers first."

The Turbo rangers weren't having much luck with the quantrons. There seemed to be just too many of them, "We can't hold out much longer. Without our morphers we can't access the power." Cassie's strength was fading fast, and didn't know how much longer she could keep fighting. Carlos and TJ didn't seem to be faring any better. All three rangers fell back side-by-side in an attempt to catch their breath.

"Ok guys we can't give up now. We need to beat these guys so we can get out of here and find Ashley and Zordon." TJ rallied his teammates in hopes they could find the strength somewhere to beat these noisy walking trashcans.

"Right! Let's do it! For Ashley." Carlos got ready to rush back into a seemingly impossible situation. But before they could attack the quantrons began running in the opposite direction. "What the…?"

Andros steered the Megaship down towards the fleeing quantrons and gave the order, "Fire the megalasers!" Andros smiled as the lasers mowed down the quantrons, but then the ship shuddered violently. "Deca! What's happening?"

"We appear to be under attack from the Dark Fortress." Andros' fingers flew over the console trying to maintain as much of the shields as possible when the ship bucked him over the console and across the bridge, "The engines are failing and we are going to have to make an emergency landing." Not five seconds after Deca said this did the ship crash into the dusty surface of the planet.

As Andros picked himself up off of the floor of the Megaship and started running towards the hatch yelling, "Let's Rocket!" Transformed, Andros burst through the hanger door and jumped into the fray.

Once the Turbo rangers turned and saw the ship flying low and firing lasers and they dug deeper than they ever did before and attacked the walking tin cans with renewed vigor. But when the ship got hit twice and crashed landed, the team deflated a little. But they would never stop fighting, and they were heartened when they saw the red Astro ranger run out of the ship and jump right into battle.

Andros threw punch after punch, and delivered kick after kick into the closest quantrons he could find for five minutes before he heard a familiar voice, "Red Ranger!" Andros turned and found Astronema walking toward him, parting the proverbial red sea of remaining quantrons as she went.

"Red ranger, you took my toy, and I want it back!" Astronema stomped her foot like a petulant child where she stood 10 feet away from Andros.

"Awww, poor baby. Too bad can't help you on that count. You'll just have to make do smacking around Ecliptor and your little rust buckets." Andros was stalling her in hopes of getting enough of an opening to make his move. He decided acting sooner rather than later was his best course of action. He drew his Astro blaster and fired, but only grazed Astronema's arm.

Astronema fumed, "Oh you are so gonna pay for that!" Astronema grabbed her staff and shot a lightening bolt the red ranger's way. Unfortunately he was faster than her magic and was able to roll out of the way in time. Astronema screamed in frustration and fired again, this time Andros was caught off guard and the blast caught him in his right side.

Andros grunted and stood up clutching his side, but still pointing his blaster squarely at Astronema.

The Turbo rangers saw the red Astro ranger take the hit in the side. They finished off the remaining quantrons near them and ran over and stood in front of the red Astro ranger so he could catch his breath.

"Oh how cute, looks like the red ranger has terrans to protect him. Oh even better their failed terran rangers." Astronema clapped and laughed.

"Piss off butt-ugly wig queen. What did you do fall, trip, and get beat on by the ugly stick?" Cassie was in no mood for grape head's attitude. In Cassie's experienced estimation today was distinctly a bad day.

"Humph." Astronema fluffed her fabulous hair and decided it wasn't worth it today. She was always up for hurting the red ranger, but now that these twerps were in the way, it seemed to take the wind out of her sails. "Whatever. I'm so over this." With those eloquent parting words Astronema zapped out with what was left of her quantrons.

The Turbo rangers sagged with exhaustion. TJ turned to Andros, the ranger had powered down and who seemed little worse for wear, "Look man you have the best timing. We really appreciate you sweeping in and lending a very friendly hand."

"Yeah well it's my job as a ranger." Andros was short. Now he had to fix his ship, dump the girl, and get back to his search.

Carlos could tell this guy Andros was less than thrilled with the situation he found himself in, "Hey, I know you busted up your ship helping us out. We'll help you get it back in the air, and what can't be taken care of here we can certainly get fixed on Earth. We know all the right people for this kind of stuff. Besides we'll be able to get our shuttle fixed."

Andros really didn't want to have to deal with these people anymore. They were chatty and nosy, a combination he really despised. But if accepting their offer would get him back on course faster, well he could suffer through it, "Fine. First let's take care of our injuries. We'll only work slower injured."

Andros led the Turbo ranger team into the Megaship towards the med bay. He opened the door, and remembered that Ashley had been on board when the ship had crashed. He almost hoped that she hadn't been hurt anymore than she already was. What he saw when opened the door was astonishing. The med bay was a huge mess; everything had flown off the shelf, all over the floor, and there was Ashley, dressed and standing with her back to them.

Ashley turned when she heard the door open, "What the hell happened?"

The Turbo rangers were a step behind Andros, but the second Cassie heard that voice she knew it was Ashley, but didn't believe it till she stepped into the med bay doorway and saw her best friend standing there, alive. Cassie exploded, "Oh my GOD!!! Ashley!"

Author's Note: Okay, so I so wanted to crank out this chapter quicker, but it proved way more difficult than I thought. But here it is in all its glory. Tell me what you think!! Pretty please! Btw, thanks for the review-y love from the last chapter.

AN 2: I just wanted to let you all know that I will try to get as much of this story done before I go abroad to Europe for the semester. I swear I will finish this story over the summer, but there will a hiatus before its done, that I'm sure of. Just wanted to let y'all know.

Shiny love!


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Still not with the ownership, sadly. Sue not

Chapter 2

"Cassie!" Ashley squealed and rushed her best friend. The girls jumped up and down hugging each other and screaming. It took a whole 20 seconds for Carlos and TJ to recover from the shock of seeing their friend before they too joined ran over to Ashley.

Ashley escaped from Cassie's grasp, turned to the boys to give them a hug and was instantly smothered by both of them, "Guys, I kinda need to breathe."

"Oh right, sorry." Carlos and TJ released Ashley from the hug but didn't break contact completely. They just couldn't believe she was really here. "How long have you been here? Are you all right? What happened to you?" Carlos could barely contain himself; he was just so relieved to see Ashley safe.

Andros hung back through this display of affection. He wasn't interested in getting involved in their messy emotions. Andros was getting impatient. He wanted to get to repairing the ship before Astronema attacked again, "Look, we need to fix the ship before Astronema attacks again. You can carry on with your little reunion later."

TJ nodded, "Andros is right. We've got all the time in the world now. C'mon let's get patched up and get on to patching up the ship." Thankfully all of their wounds were superficial and there were no broken bones.

Once everyone was bandaged, they set out to different parts of the ship to repair the most critical damages first. All they had to do was get off the ground and out of orbit. Andros was mildly surprised that the Turbo rangers could manage most of the repairs without him holding their hands through it. It only took about two hours for the rangers to fix the ship to flying status. Andros decided that he would take the terran rangers back to earth, fix his ship, and take off and continue on his mission. He had already taken more time away from his search than he ever imagined.

Once they were assembled on the bridge, Andros took command, "Deca, set a course for earth, hyper-rush 9."

"Course set. Hyper-rush 9 will put too much strain on the accelerators. The safest hyper-rush is 7." Deca informed the red ranger.

"Fine, hyper-rush 7. What's the approximate travel time?" Andros was hoping that they'd be able to get to earth quickly, he didn't want to interact with these people longer than he had to.

"Approximate travel time is 24 hours." Deca seemed almost happy about this fact, while Andros was distinctly the opposite.

"Fine. Let me know when we're close, or if anything goes wrong." Andros tapped a few buttons on the console in front of him, and then left the bridge, leaving the Turbo rangers alone.

"Well since we've got the time," Cassie rounded on Ashley, "tell us what happened."

Ashley sighed, knowing this was coming, but still reticent to broach the painful subject. Ashley sat herself on the front console while Carlos, Cassie, and TJ sat down in the chairs facing her. Ashley took a deep breath and began, "Well after Divatox kidnapped me, I was thrown in a cell on her ship. I had no idea where we were going, but from the tiny porthole in my cell that we were in space. I was mostly ignored, but the one time Divatox did visit she had one of her piranhatrons leave an impression." Ashley lifted the left side of her sweat jacket to reveal a long scar running the length of her side, breast to hip, "Then I was knocked out. When I came to, there were metal lackeys in the cell. The picked me up and brought me to another room on another ship, where I was chained up to the ceiling. It was a while before anyone came in the room, but eventually she came in. A woman with purple hair and an ugly pleather outfit walked in with a green and black robotic thing. They talked at me a little, and then when the woman got bored, she ordered the sidekick to start getting physical." Ashley hesitated, this is where it hurt, and she knew that telling her friends what happened next would feel like she was reliving the abuse, but Ashley knew she would feel a little bit better after, "F-first he jammed the butt of his sword into my stomach, then he proceeded to cut all of my clothes off. He wasn't too gentle about it either, that's how I got the majority of my injuries. They left me to hang there for a while, my toes barely touched the floor, so I was in constant pain and completely exposed; I'm amazed my shoulders didn't dislocate no that I think about it. Anyways, the pair came back, I don't know how much time passed between beatings, but this time she participated. She used her staff, which channels her magic, and hit me a couple of times with lightning bolts. She laughed and greeny took over from there. They never did anything major, I think they were saving that for later. I don't know how long I was on their ship before Andros showed up. At that point I was only partially conscious and all of a sudden he ducked into the room, clearly avoiding something in the hallway. He didn't realize I was there at first" Ashley gave a small laugh and smiled slightly, "I shifted slightly, that caught his attention, he turned and he seemed to stare at me for minutes. In reality it was only seconds, but then he used his blaster and shot the chains. I was dazed and scared, so as soon as I hit the floor I scrambled to the nearest corner. He came after me, told me that he wasn't going to hurt me; he wrapped me in a nearby curtain, picked me up and carried me out of there. He brought me back here, treated my wounds, and then I guess you guys showed up." Ashley had stared at a particularly interesting spot on the console between her legs while she recounted her tale. She couldn't look her friends in the eye; it would've made it all the worse to say.

Carlos, TJ, and Cassie could only stare at her once she finished. Carlos was the first to speak, "Wow Ash… that's awful. You are so strong." Carlos put his hand on her knee, hoping to reassure her, but she flinched. Ashley was clearly still reliving it in her head.

"Hey, it's okay. We don't need to talk about this anymore. You know, we could all use some sleep. Deca, where can we sleep?" Cassie took hold of Ashley's hand as she nodded and slipped off the console.

"There are sleeping quarters on Mega deck 2." Deca replied evenly.

"Great come on. I know I'm beat." TJ led the way to the Mega lift.

On another level on the opposite side of the ship, Andros was brooding in the Observatory. He was less than thrilled with the length of the journey and intended to hide the whole time, "Deca, are you sure that we can't do hyper-rush 9?"

"Affirmative. The accelerators are not at 100 capacity, therefore, hyper-rush 9 would damage the accelerators further." Deca seemed to becoming impatient.

"Where are the terrans?" Andros was determined to know where they were at all times when they were on **his** ship.

"The rangers are on the bridge. Ashley appears to be talking a great deal while the others listen." Deca, knowing this would get a rise out of Andros, waited for the response.

"Rangers, you mean terrans. They aren't rangers anymore, they lost their power." Andros' voice was cold.

"Incorrect. While they no longer have the ability to access the power, the power is still in and responds to them." Deca replied.

"What are you saying?" Andros glared at the red eye, "You can't possibly be suggesting that I give them the astro morphers! That's ridiculous! They can't possibly handle astro morphers; they already lost their own terran morphers! Besides, Those morphers are meant for Karovan rangers only! What could they possibly know about being space rangers? They're terran rangers, it's completely different!" Andros was pacing back and forth in front of the couch fuming. He couldn't believe was Deca was suggesting he do!

"While it is true that the astro morphers were originally intended for Karovan rangers, that is not a current option. Also, the earth rangers lost their morphers because they were outnumbered, overwhelmed, and their power source was attacked in such a way that could not defend it. They have also proved adequate in repairing the ship, which shows evidence that they are capable of being space rangers." Deca sounded smug as she rebutted every single one of Andros' arguments.

Andros was at a loss for words. He knew Deca was right, but this was something he wasn't interested in discussing. Andros flopped down on the couch, fighting his urge to concede. He sighed in frustration and ran his hands through his hair, "I'm going to get some sleep. Alert me when we're close."

"Very well." Deca said as Andros dragged himself out of the observatory towards his room.

Seven hours later Andros woke up from his reoccurring nightmare of Karone's kidnapping. He was amazed he slept so long. Andros pulled on his boots and jacket and headed into the corridor when his stomach growled. He realized that in all the commotion he had forgotten to eat.

Andros was sitting in the hangar bay eating when all of a sudden Ashley appeared in the doorway. She was startled, "Oh, sorry I thought everyone was asleep."

"Apparently not." Andros replied not so nicely.

"Whatever." Ashley was in no mood to deal with his attitude. She went to the synthetron and order a drink, fully preparing to go back to her room without another word.

"Why are you up?" Andros was genuinely curious for some reason.

"Couldn't sleep. I've been walking around for about an hour." Ashley sat down on a stool across from Andros, "What about you?"

"I woke up and realized I was hungry. Besides, I don't need that much sleep. You should be resting though, you know with your injuries." Andros said. He only vaguely stared in Ashley's direction and he never made eye contact.

"Yeah, so I've been told. But sleep isn't really my friend at the moment, you know with the nightmares and all." Ashley frowned and shook her head like she was trying to shake images out of her head.

Andros finally looked at her, "Oh… yeah, sorry." Ashley looked up and was staring straight into his eyes. Andros felt like an electric current was running through his body, and he couldn't look away. The pain and sadness in her eyes seemed to draw him in further.

Ashley couldn't believe the depth of emotion she saw when she looked into Andros' eyes; she couldn't pick one from the other. Yet there was a warmth there, behind it all, and that's what kept her staring into his big brown eyes. She smiled sadly and looked away feeling vulnerable and exposed to him, "Well, I guess I'll go lie down. We still have quite awhile till we reach earth. Goodnight." Ashley smiled and rushed out of the hangar bay.

"Goodnight." Andros whispered after her. He didn't quite want to believe what just happened. A distraction like Ashley was something he did not need. Andros shook his head, hoping the erase the past five minutes, to no avail. He sighed, stood, returned his empty plate and cup to the synthetron, and left. Maybe a couple of training rounds on the simudeck would help him clear his head.

AN: So there it is. What'd ya think? I think I'll be able to post the next chapter relatively soon cause now I kind of have an idea of where I'm going and what I want to accomplish with this story. We'll see. Shiny Love!


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Well now, looks like I've got more free time on my hands than I expected. So I'm gonna see if I can get back on track. I've been reading some other stories and have gotten terribly inspired. Hope you guys like!

Chapter 3

With 17 hours left in their trip to Earth, Andros felt horribly trapped on his own ship. He didn't want to run into the terrans for fear of small talk. After finishing his food, Andros returned the plate to the sythetron and returned to his room. He figured he might pass the time by going over the latest rumors and information he collected on Karone's whereabouts. Andros poured over the star charts and data sheets over and over, and none of it seemed to yield any new or useful information. Frustrated to no end, and feeling entirely useless, he decided the best way to vent would be to run a training sim. Changing into his sweat suit, Andros made his way through the silent ship towards the Simudeck, but when he got there it was already in use.

Andros was startled by the fact that someone other than him would be training at this hour. He couldn't believe how many craterites the person was fighting. It took him a good five minutes of watching before he realized it was the girl Ashley fighting all these monsters, with no morph and no weapons, on top of the fact that she was still recovering. Andros was jerked out of his shock when he saw Ashley hit the floor and the craterites pile on top of her, "Stop simulation."

Ashley bolted upright and rounded on whoever had turned off the sim, "What are you doing?" She was incensed. How dare he turn off the sim in the middle of her training, she could handle herself perfectly fine.

Andros held his hands up in a defensive position, he'd never been scared of a girl before, but there was always a first time for everything, "I just thought I was helping. Besides you should be exerting yourself so much. You are still healing."

She marched up to him and got right in his face, "Did I fucking ask for your help? No, that's right. I'm a ranger too you know. I can handle myself. I'm not weak!" Ashley couldn't think straight, she wasn't even sure she was talking to Andros anymore. Hell, she couldn't even see Andros anymore, "I'm not some damsel waiting to be saved. I can save myself god damn it!"

Andros was stunned into silence for a good minute. He genuinely had no idea what to say to this girl. She was pissed, that was for sure, but he wasn't entirely sure she was completely pissed at him. He looked in her eyes, he saw fear and anger, to a depth that he couldn't fathom at the moment, "Look I'm sorry okay."

"Yeah well you should be. I'm going to my room, I was getting bored anyway." Ashley practically ran from the room, leaving a flabbergasted Andros in her wake.

Andros shook his head, "I wonder what the hell that was all about?"

"I believe Ashley is suffering from some sort of post-traumatic stress." Deca answered promptly.

"Yeah I gathered that thanks." Andros did have eyes and a brain that worked, "How did she figure out how to use the Simudeck anyhow?" He looked at Deca, waiting for a response.

"She found the Simudeck and asked me what the room was. I told her. She asked what its purpose was and after I informed her of that, she asked to learn how to use it. I complied with that request as well." Deca said.

"Why? It's not her ship, nor should you be giving out that information to just anyone you know." Andros was not happy in the least.

"She insisted on training and after my objections on medical grounds, informed me she would figure it out with or without my help. Therefore I made an executive decision to save the console from being improperly used." Deca notified the Red Ranger, "She is a Ranger, and should have access to training facilities."

"We've had this discussion before. They're not Rangers anymore, they lost that title when they lost there morphers." Andros was not happy with the direction this conversation was going, "Besides, I need to focus on finding Karone, not wiping terran Ranger noses when they can't figure out something on the Megaship."

Deca's tone was more human than Andros had ever heard when she responded, "Andros, it is not logical that you should continue this search alone. Help is always a welcome prospect to any Ranger. Besides, as I stated previously they have proved themselves quite capable of problem solving when it comes to ship maintenance and management. I believe you've been alone far too long here, proper socialization is healthy."

Andros wondered where that sudden burst of maternal instinct came from, Deca was certainly a mentor to him, but she had never before sounded so much like his mother. He pushed the thought of his mother to the back of his mind, thinking about her would only make him sad, and he was not ready for that just yet. He thought hard for about five minutes about what giving the morphers to these fallen Rangers would mean for him. While he did have a friend, Zhane popped in and out between missions, this last stint had been about a year. While Deca was a constant presence, he admitted to himself that it was lonely on the Megaship by himself. While not a terribly social person like Zhane, who loved to be around people, he did like it when there were a few people around. "Fine, I'll give them the morphers, but I'm not telling them about Karone just yet, and neither are you."

"That is entirely your decision to make." Deca sounded very satisfied.

Andros decided to go to the bridge instead of training. He sat at the console, staring absently at it, trying to decide the best way to give them the morphers. As he thought it over, his mind went on auto-pilot. He began doing systems checks and taking note of all the things they needed to get fixed when they reached Earth. Andros also began fixing some of the minor damage that he could.

He was fiddling with some wire in one of the side consoles when Deca interrupted him, "We are three hours from Earth. I have alerted the other Rangers."

"Thanks Deca. Could you tell them to meet me on the bridge in 20 minutes please." Andros closed the console and headed to his room to change back into his flight suit and grab the other morphers from their hiding spot. He was ready for them when they arrived on the bridge.

"What's up? Deca said you wanted to talk to us about something important." TJ ask asked. He was genuinely confused, since the Red space Ranger had hardly said a word to any of them since they got on the ship.

"After a long consideration, I feel it the most beneficial to everyone involved, to give you these." Andros had the morphers in his out stretched hand, "And I'm sorry for the way I acted before, it's been a while since I've been in anyone's company beside my best friend."

Cassie was the first to step forward and grab her morpher, "Hey man, don't sweat it, we all get cranky sometimes."

"Yeah no worries man." Carlos took the black morpher.

TJ just smiled and took the blue morpher, and Ashley was last to take hers. She didn't say anything or even really look at Andros.

"So how do these things work?" Cassie asked as she strapped it on to her wrist.

"Well you say 'Let's Rocket!' and press 335." Andros said, then he showed them.

"Wicked cool." TJ was ready to give it a try.

All four of them yelled together, "Let's Rocket!" and the Power Rangers were back in business.

**AN:** Well there it is! Hope it was alright for not having written for a while. I hope to get more of it up soon, since I'm reinspired! Shiny Love!


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